Mirror Mirror Underwhelms: Insipid Movie, Tepid Box Office, Meh

April 2, 2012 by Hollywoodite

Mirror Mirror was released, and ceremoniously under-performed, this weekend.

Everything about Mirror Mirror is an exercise in “nearly.” “Almost.” It’s semi-compelling, although Snow White & The Huntsman looks subjectively more interesting by comparison. Mirror Mirror’s costuming is exquisite, except you can’t see much of the detail upon zoom out and you can’t rely on extreme close-ups (of which there are many) to “sell” the clothing. The cast is great, on paper, although they have no chemistry with one another. Everyone except Armie Hammer and Lily Collins looks embarrassed to be there. Sean Bean was probably tricked into his two or three minutes of screen-time. Somehow.

The movie was buried by The Hunger Games’ marketing. Moreover, early Mirror Mirror marketing was regularly confused with SWATH marketing only for the latter to loosely curry favour with critics.

Mirror Mirror, overall, has potential. But it’s let down by a ludicrous trailer and a perfunctory marketing effort, with Collins being left almost entirely alone to promote the movie. Julia Robert attended the premiere, but did little else. Hammer was filming The Lone Ranger and didn’t even attend the premiere, leaving it ill-attended. Even more telling is the Rotten Tomatoes rating: 50%. As in: Meh.

That said, the numbers. Mirror Mirror didn’t flop. But it didn’t do well either, it came third in this weekend’s box office.

* The Hunger Games took $61.1 million its second week.

* Wrath Of The Titans took $34.2 million its opening week. By comparison, the Clash Of The Titans remake took $61.2 million its first week).

* Mirror Mirror took $19 million its first week.